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This letter is written in opposition to three fiscal ballot issues, 60, 61 and 101, which will be on the November ballot. The League of Women Voters is recommending that voters in Jefferson County vote no on each of these measures.

If you think you’re seeing more negative campaign ads this year, it’s not just you. 2010 is shaping up to be an all-time high — or low — for negative campaigning. It’s gotten so bad, a recent Denver Post headline read, “It’s a miracle! Some positive campaign ads!” I still haven’t seen those yet.

Sometimes I wonder whether we use the right nomenclature to describe the basic political divide in America. We see “liberals” on this side and “conservatives” on that side, with Democrats generally representing the former and Republicans the latter.

But a compelling case can be made that the political landscape is really more sensibly divided into those who believe government should have a limited role (libertarians) and those who prefer government to have a more active role (statists).

People in civilized societies understand that we have collective needs that can be met only through the coordinated efforts of citizens. Many of those collective needs are met through the activities of governments. We expect our federal, state, local and special-district governments to do things that it makes no sense to do individually. We drive on public roads. We get water and dispose of wastewater through governmentally owned utilities. We educate our children in public schools. We protect our homes and businesses through governmental fire departments.

At what point will we finally have enough surveillance cameras? It’s hard to go anywhere without being watched by at least one, and often several, closed-circuit eyes in the sky. On a typical five-minute walk in downtown Denver, you don’t have to look very hard to find 20 or more cameras. They’re on lampposts, the sides of buildings, on ceilings, atop traffic lights and along walls.

Young people today have to navigate a complex world and a complicated social scene. As law enforcement officers, we want to mitigate the dangers so that teens and young adults can safely enjoy their free time. We urge parents and teens to join us in doing so. Here are some issues to consider

So it’s come to this. In perhaps the most favorable Republican year since at least 1994, scandal-plagued GOP front-runner Scott McInnis can’t even close the deal on his own party’s nomination, much less the general election.